Mixed-income housing, street retail planned for Brush Park

DETROIT (WJBK) - Hundreds of new residential units and street retail are planned for the historic Brush Park neighborhood in Detroit. 

The neighborhood that sits between Midtown and Downtown, separated by I-75 from Eastern Market and Ford Field, will soon be a bustling mixed-income neighborhood by way of three new developments. Brush Park is one of Detroit's oldest neighborhoods and more than a century ago was home to some of the city's wealthiest residents. But like other parts of Detroit it succumbed to abandonment and blight as hundreds of thousands of people left for the suburbs beginning in the 1950s. 

The first development is Brush 8, which will be eight luxury townhomes. 

Brush House is the second planned development, with 179 units and 15,000 square feet of ground floor retail. Twenty percent of these units will be affordable units, and the rest will be set at area median income. That means a one-bedroom apartment will run about $900 a month and be available for residents making less than $39,000 a year. 

The third development is Brush + Watson, a building with 180 units plus another 8,500 square feet of street-level retail. Half of those units will be available as affordable units, with some being available as low as $400 a month. 

Half of those affordable units at Brush + Watson will start around $1,000 a month to those making about $42,000 a year. The rent for the other 45 affordable units will vary around $400-700 a month, and be available to those making about $16-28,000 a year. 

"I used to say it over at DMC, I wanted to have a neighborhood where the folks who could push the wheelchairs could live in the same neighborhood with the doctors. That's the kind of neighborhood we're creating," said Mayor Mike Duggan.

All projects are expected to break ground in the fall of 2019 and be completed by 2021. Underground parking for residents will also be added. 

Brush House and Brush 8 will be developed by local developer City Growth Partners. Brush + Watson is owned by locally-based American Community Developers, Inc., one of Detroit's leading affordable housing developers.

The Area Median Income determining the rent price per yearly income is set annually by federal housing rules.

The three projects total about $102 million and will add 367 new residential units.